blu-ray reviews

Matt Hough Comes a Horseman Blu-ray Review Character building is at the forefront and truly forms the heart of Alan J. Pakula’s Comes a Horseman. [review] Read more.

Matt Hough Two for the Road Blu-ray Review A great film and one of the most unique American movies ever produced in the style of the French New Wave, Two for the Road has lost none of its flavor or bite in the half a century since it was first introduced. [review] Read more.

Matt Hough The Mad Magician 3D Blu-ray Review A popcorn movie of pure entertainment produced impressively in 3D, that’s John Brahm’s The Mad Magician. [review] Read more.

Matt Hough Queen of Katwe Blu-ray Review Despite its familiar basic narrative, Queen of Katwe draws one in to its story of a chess whiz rising from the depths of poverty with the help of a loving mentor and her family's support. [review] Read more.

Richard Gallagher Battleground Blu-ray Review Battleground realistically and effectively depicts the hardships endured by American soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge in December, 1944. [review] Read more.

Matt Hough Pinocchio: Signature Collection Blu-ray Review With its combination of an amusing and engrossing story, brilliant and sophisticated animation, and a song score brimming with melody and invention, Pinocchio is undoubtedly a Walt Disney masterpiece. [review] Read more.

Matt Hough The Light Between Oceans Blu-ray Review An emotional melodrama that will move you just as quickly to anger as it will to tears, Derek Cianfance’s The Light Between Oceans is a beautifully made but dramatically unsteady movie of the old school. [review] Read more.

Matt Hough Kevin Hart: What Now? Blu-ray Review Like most comedy concert films, there are both inspired bits and some definite letdowns in Kevin Hart: What Now? [review] Read more.

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Matt Hough Ouija: Origin of Evil Blu-ray Review Writer-director Mike Flanagan celebrates horror styles of a generation or two ago with Ouija: Origin of Evil. [review] Read more.

Matt Hough Roger Corman's Death Race 2050 Blu-ray Review There are major problems with the made-for-home video Roger Corman’s Death Race 2050 quite apart from the low budget and barely professional production values. [review] Read more.

Matt Hough Keeping Up with the Joneses Blu-ray Review A broad and mostly brainless spy comedy with good actors and some good elements, Greg Mottola’s Keeping Up with the Jones only occasionally catches fire with its humor and its action components. [review] Read more.

Matt Hough The Girl on the Train Blu-ray Review Three unstable and to various degrees unhappy women form the nucleus to the murder mystery inherent in Tate Taylor’s The Girl on the Train. [review] Read more.

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Matt Hough Max Steel Blu-ray Review An obvious push for a new superhero teen movie franchise from toy company Mattel, Stewart Hendler’s Max Steel barely registers with a whimper. [review] Read more.

Matt Hough Denial Blu-ray Review Denial might not quite be a riveting courtroom drama despite its real-life roots, but its themes are important and even in a less than top-notch presentation, it’s quite worth watching and considering. [review] Read more.

Matt Hough The Asphalt Jungle Blu-ray Review The proud father of such 1950's cinematic heist films as Jules Dassin's Rififi and Stanley Kubrick's The Killing, John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle can stand as tall as any of them. [review] Read more.

Neil Middlemiss Boyhood Blu-ray Review (Criterion) Revisiting Boyhood, following my review of the first Paramount release (largely unchanged below), I am struck by the unassuming and understated power of this film. The natural feel and flow of the film, the non-traditional narrative, and...

Matt Hough In a Valley of Violence Blu-ray Review Ti West’s In a Valley of Violence succeeds in spite of itself, a revenge western with just enough atmosphere, action, and clever banter to balance the routinely written and performed cardboard characters, awkward staging and pacing, and...

Matt Hough Nicholas Nickleby (2002) Blu-ray Review One of the greatest of English language novels, Charles Dickens’ The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby comes colorfully to the screen in Douglas McGrath’s 2002 adaptation Nicholas Nickleby. [review] Read more.

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Matt Hough The Barefoot Contessa Blu-ray Review A bittersweet tale of a free spirited life brought prematurely to an end leaves a bit of a sour aftertaste in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s The Barefoot Contessa. [review] Read more.

Matt Hough Stardust Memories Blu-ray Review There’s the touch of the autobiographical in many of Woody Allen’s films but probably none more so than in Stardust Memories, a philosophical comedy that veers in and out of the surreal but stays rooted in reality long enough to tell an only...

Matt Hough Snowden Blu-ray Review One of America’s foremost directors of docudramas, particularly those with a political bent, Oliver Stone’s most recent foray into the genre is Snowden, a dramatic look into surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden’s decade-long career in various agencies...

Matt Hough Something for Everyone Blu-ray Review Harold Prince’s uber-black comedy Something for Everyone is a sophisticate’s delight: a delicious, stylized cinematic morsel as appetizing as sweet pastry and as lethal as curare. [review] Read more.

Matt Hough The Lodger (1944) Blu-ray Review One of the great Gothic thrillers of Hollywood's Golden Age, John Brahm’s The Lodger offers a gorgeous production, scintillating performances, and effective, sustained suspense in its story of the Ripper on the loose in Victorian London. [review]...

Matt Hough Cinerama's Russian Adventure Blu-ray Review Cinerama’s Russian Adventure is a most entertaining final bow for the three-strip Cinerama process, and the movie has been brought back to be an enjoyable viewing experience by Dave Strohmaier and his band of hard working, expert...

Matt Hough Bridget Jones's Baby Blu-ray Review While it’s pleasantly agreeable to see the daftly delightful Bridget Jones once again after a long absence, the story concocted for Bridget Jones’s Baby may be more frustrating than it is entertaining for the masses and certainly inconsistent...

Richard Gallagher 2016 World Series Collector's Edition: Chicago Cubs Blu-ray Shout! Factory and Major League Baseball have teamed up to release 2016 World Series Collector's Edition: Chicago Cubs on Blu-ray, a collection which will thrill baseball fans in general and Chicago Cubs fans in...

Matt Hough Gran Bollito Blu-ray Review Based on the story of a real-life Italian female serial killer, Mauro Bolognini’s Gran Bollito is a black comedy-drama that follows its own unique course traversing through sometimes familiar and yet also uncharted territory in the serial killer genre...